Romeo and Juliet
by Hawthornes
Summary: The love she shared with Stefan was epic. It was a tale for the ages. Something for people to compare to. Like Romeo and Juliet with an equally as tragic ending. But that was gone now. The good was gone.


She missed him.

Why not admit it to herself?

It had been a long year, and she missed him. Her eyes raked over her face in the mirror, and she absently reached up to touch her lips. He used to kiss those lips so tenderly. He used to kiss them so gently that it would send shivers down her spine. She never knew how he did it; just that he was the only one that could.

She'd had bad kisses before. Damon's kiss wasn't bad. But he wasn't Stefan. His kiss didn't make her eager for more. It didn't make her shiver. The kiss didn't make her at a loss for words. It didn't leave her breathless from the gentleness of it. It wasn't gentle. Not like Stefan's. It was too heated. Too demanding. Too needy. It was good, but nothing more. Nothing special.

Elena backed away from the mirror, desperate to get away from the image of herself. That girl looked too much like the one who he used to love. He used to hold her. Her eyes traveled over to the bed. He used to hold her in that bed. He'd kiss her awake. He'd tell her that he loved her. Whisper sweet things in her ears for only the two of them to know.

There were too many memories in this house to keep up with. Too much from the old Elena. The old Stefan. They were two different people now. She still wanted him. He wanted to be away from her. Moving on would be a joke. How could she move on from a love like that?

She couldn't.

I would be impossible to for the strongest person to move on. Elena was strong, but she couldn't. The love she shared with Stefan was epic. It was a tale for the ages. Something for people to compare to. Like Romeo and Juliet with an equally as tragic ending. The good was over now. There would be no more cuddling for them. There would be no more late nights talking about everything. There would be nothing.

His lips, so sweet and inviting, would never welcome her again. They would push her away. His eyes would never be warm, at least not for her. He would hold his air of coldness and indifference just for her. His strong arms that once held her would never hold her again. There would be no more Stefan and Elena. There would be Stefan. There would be Elena. There wouldn't be Stefan and Elena.

No matter how much she wished there would be. No matter how many nights she'd lie awake, Stefan wouldn't come. No matter how many nightmares she'd wake from, wishing that he was there to kiss away the demons, he wouldn't be. He would never be hers again.

Klaus had made sure of that.

He had made sure that they didn't end like they were supposed to. They didn't walk off into the sunset like they were supposed to. They didn't live happily ever after. They hated each other.

Or, he hated her.

She didn't hate him. There wouldn't be anything that could make her hate him. She tried. She tried to hate him. Tried to find comfort in his brother. It didn't work. Elena would always love Stefan. Even if she tried to tell herself otherwise, it would never to true.

Elena would always be in love with Stefan. Eventually, she would find someone. Maybe someone she already knew. She would marry them. Have a couple of children. A house. A yard with a dog. She would have a normal life, but he would always be in the back of her mind. Haunting her. Making her think of what could have, and should have been.

A noise behind her made her spin around. Her first thought was Damon. It was Damon checking up on her like he so often did. There wasn't a night that he didn't come and make sure she was okay. It didn't matter how much she wanted to be alone, she never would be. Not really. She'd have Damon hanging over her shoulder. She was ready to scoff at him, but it wasn't Damon's face that she saw.

Stefan was standing there, against the window. He looked up at her, but there was no warmth. There was no trace of the Stefan she so desperately missed.

Had she expected there to be?

Maybe.

She wouldn't deny it. She was always hoping for the day that he would show up and not be indifferent to her existence. Like he didn't care whether she lived or died. Did he care? Sometimes she asked herself that question, but she had a pretty good idea of what his answer would be.

_I don't care if she dies. Not anymore. _

"What are you doing here?" It came out too demanding, too accusatory. She didn't mean it to, but she didn't try and take it back. She stood there, staring him down. If he could look at her with emptiness, then she should be able to look at him the same.

Except that she couldn't. Not with him. Not with the one person who she so desperately wanted to see. Wanted to hold her. Wanted to kiss her. Her face fell. She couldn't be cold with him, and she didn't know how he did it. He hated her. That was how. It would be easy to look like that when you hate someone. She used to be able to have that face with Damon. Still can, sometimes.

"Do you want me to leave?" He asked, ignoring her question.

She faltered. "Yes."

He didn't believe it. From one look at his face, she knew he didn't believe it. Hell, she didn't even believe it. It wasn't true, after all. She didn't want him to leave. He was finally here. After all of this time she spent hoping that he would show up, he was here. Cold and hating, but here. Didn't that count for something? Did that mean that he was coming around? Could it?

She was pushed up against the wall. Every inch of her was covered with Stefan. His eyes, smoldering and heavy, were boring into hers. Threatening. He is face was inches away from hers. Those eyes, so familiar, yet so foreign. They weren't the eyes that she'd spent hours staring into. They were harder. More protected.

He pressed his forehead up against hers. "Say it like you mean it, Elena."

The way he said her name sent shivers up and down her spine. She knew that feeling. She knew that voice. She knew what that voice meant. Velvety and slightly dazed. It made her shiver more. There was something he came for, and she knew what it was, and she wanted to give it to him.

She didn't grace him with an answer. Her answer was her lips pressed against his. He groaned, and she knew that she made the right choice. She knew Stefan. Even after all of this time, she still knew what he wanted. It was a certain look. A certain voice. A certain way he moved his body. She'd spent hours studying him, and even though he was better at hiding things now, but she still knew.

She was still his Elena.

Even if he wasn't her Stefan.

She wondered why he'd come to her. There could be hundreds of girls throwing themselves at his feet, willing. He could have anyone with just a few sentences. Compulsion. Or charm. He was always charming. It would be all too easy for him to get anyone he wanted. But he'd come to her, and even though she didn't understand, she didn't push him away.

She wanted him. Had wanted him for a long time. She'd waited until he wanted her back, and even though it wasn't fully yet, it was a start. He was here. Kissing her. Holding her. It was rougher than before, more needing, but still wonderful. Still Stefan.

His hands roamed up her sides, and her fingernails dug into the skin on his shoulders. It wasn't like he could feel it. He couldn't feel anything. He was numb. Elena kissed him back with such intensity it would bring any man to their knees. She would make him feel. Even if he didn't want to, she'd make him feel something for her.

He squeezed her breasts, which caused her to moan into his mouth. She felt, rather than saw, the twisted grin on his lips. Her eyes fluttered open, and so did his. There was need there. A core deep need that only she could fulfill. She basked in the fact that he needed her. No one else. Just her. Even if it just was for this.

She tried to hide her happiness. That could ruin everything. She had worked so hard for this. She moved her hands up his shirt, pushing at it. He took the hint. The shirt hit the floor, and he kissed her neck. A sigh, filled with pleasure and desperation, escaped her lips. She needed this as much as he did. This thing that had once been acceptable, but now seemed forbidden.

That made it all the more fun.

She hit the bed, and Stefan was over her in the next second. She squirmed under his weight until she found a more comfortable position. Then she lay still, letting his lips roam her neck and chest. It wasn't the same. Nothing would be the same. They moved in unison, like they had so many times. His body reacted to hers. Her body reacted to his. No more trying. It just happened.

He shifted, and she pulled her shirt over her head, taking her time. Looking at his form that hovered above her. She bit down on her lip. He was still so beautiful. Beautiful, strong, everything that he'd always been. But he wasn't the same. She knew that when she looked into his eyes. They moved again, and her bra flew across the room.

It wasn't fast. It was slow. They took their time with each other, like they always had. They kissed, and they touched. Her hands moved over his body, so familiar. It wasn't uncharted territory, but it felt like it. It wasn't their first time, but it might as well have been. They were new to each other. They were just rediscovering each other.

She thought she saw something, a flicker of love cross his face, but it was gone as soon as it came, and he went back to fumbling with the button on her jeans. An illusion. A trick of light. He was still so far away, even though he was so close. Elena laid her head back, letting him get back to work on her jeans. When he started tugging at them, she shifted so that he could pull them off.

_I'm going to make him feel something. _

When he came back up to her, she took his face in both of her hands. She kissed him, letting her tongue snake out and lick his bottom him. She could feel his devilish smile, but also something else. A tremble beneath his skin.

More.

They both wanted more. By the second, the need was growing. Heat shot through her body, and he sighed as she trailed kisses along his jaw. They said nothing. The ruffling of the sheets and their hard breathing was sound enough for both of them. He forced another kiss to her lips, harder, hotter. She was shaking now; shaking with anticipation, shaking with need.

There was no warning when he entered her. She let out something like a cross between a cry and a moan, but she quickly regained herself. Elena licked her lips, and arched her back. His hands held her hips tightly as he worked inside of her. His hands were fiddling with her breasts. His lips were kissing her neck and collar bone.

She remembered this. The feeling. Knowing that she was in the arms of someone who loved her. But that wasn't exactly the case anymore. She didn't know what Stefan felt for her. She loved him. She welcomed him. The moans he pulled from her were enough to let him know that she'd let him back any time. She was greedy. She wanted him, and she'd take him anyway he wanted to give himself to her.

It was building inside of her. Coming closer now. She let out a cry when he buried deeper into her, which she didn't think was possible. Not a cry, a scream. She was seeing stars, but she kept herself anchored to earth by holding on to him. Scratching at his shoulders, his back. She was staying with him.

She moaned his name, and in the silence that followed, he moaned hers.

_Stefan._

_Elena._

Like they used to.

The release was sweet, and Stefan fell on the bed beside her, panting. They were both panting, their chests rising and falling together. As if they were one. One soul, two bodies. That was how she used to see them. Back when they were happy, she used to think of them two people who shared the same souls. Soulmates. Now what were they? Broken? Yes. Would they ever try to gather the pieces? She didn't know.

There should have been an _I love you,_ but there wasn't.

There was just them, being.


End file.
